Review: Fallout 3

The loop:

You’ve heard it all: The graphics are awesome, the DC landscape is really well done, and there are a lot of intriguing gameplay mechanics. If you are going to buy this one, you probably already did, and played, and formed your own opinion. The anticipation was huge, and many in the industry doubted if it could live up to the hype. Many said it did. What do we say? The review is of the Xbox 360 version, but from what we’ve gathered, it’s pretty much the same all around.

Going up:

Ok, so the area D.C. is awesome, with great variety and wonderful, accurate design. There’s a load of stuff to explore, and places to find. A lot of sub stories that are fun to follow, and a lot of weapons to find & make & fire. VATS (a pause-action targeting system) works well enough. Good balance on many design decisions, including health and boosts (or “drugs” as might be the case). Also, there is NO auto-levelling of the enemies, which is maybe the most important thing in a modern RPG to us.

Going down:

The story is, as we say here in AVM, ass. I really cannot fathom having any emotional connection to any of the characters whatsoever. Mind you, it doesn’t necessarily take away from the experience, but it certainly doesn’t add to it. The main story is roughly a 10 hour play-through, and the hyped three gazillion different endings are just a bunch of slides thrown together, based on how you played. In the end, I had more fun just exploring the scenes and not following the main story. And, most of all, when you run out of VATS points, and revert to playing it like an FPS, it’s really bad. Also, at times the world feels really unbelievable, mainly because a lot of stuff isn’t explained. Why is there electricity EVERYWHERE? Why are the cars from 1950’s?

Notable:

No multiplayer whatsoever. No way to continue the game after end sequence, you’ll have to load an earlier save to keep exploring. Level caps at 20, but it’s really no big deal, you’ll be almost done with it when it does.

The verdict:

A great experience, but the main story is forgettable. Review playthrough was over the 30 mark, and we’ll probably leave it at that – but it was a fun trip. Good mechanics, great design, disappointingly forgettable story.

8 / 10